Building San Antonio: How Hard is that “Hardwood?”

Published 6:20 pm, Friday, December 7, 2012

One of the great misrepresentations in marketing history has to be the names given to the two families of trees that give us useable lumber for construction.

The older family, originating about 260 million years ago, is notable for its needlelike leaves and cones used for reproduction. This family of trees includes the pine, cypress and redwood. Since they tend not to drop their leaves, we call them “evergreens” or “conifers” for their cones. Most construction lumber comes from this family.

The newer family, reaching back “only” 180 million years, uses flowers to reproduce. Those flowers mature into fruit, acorns, nuts and even beans (mesquite).

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There is a staggering variety to this family of trees, and the wood produced is equally varied. There are black woods, red woods, brown woods, blonds and even purple wood from Brazil. Most furniture and cabinetry tends to come from this family.

Now here's the problem: Someone (we don't know who) decided that the evergreens should be nicknamed “softwoods,” even though several types produce wood hard enough for flooring, such as longleaf pine and Douglas fir.

That same person (of dubious character) decided that the entire flowering family of trees should be called “hardwoods.” Indeed, this family does contain the hardest woods known. Lignum Vitae from Mexico is so dense that it will sink in water and is used for machine parts. Conversely, this family also contains the lightest, softest woods on the planet. Balsa, long used for fake movie props and surfboard cores, is a “hardwood.” (You don't think they hit people with real chairs in the movies, do you?)

Now, this unfortunate nickname leads many people to think that all “hardwoods” are suitable for flooring options. We all know that no one would attempt to put down a balsa wood floor in their home.

Oak, whether red or white, is the gold standard of wood flooring in the United States and Europe. Most ¾-inch thick solid oak floors tend to outlast the house built around them. Northern hard maple long has been used for gym floors (including the floor used by our beloved San Antonio Spurs) because it is about 15 percent harder than the oaks.

Some hardwoods, such as our Texas mesquite, can be more than twice as hard as oak and that much more durable. But many hardwoods people use for flooring, such as walnut and cherry, are quite a bit softer than oak. This leads to dinging and scuffing from shoes and furniture — perhaps sooner and to a greater degree than the owner had expected. The softer hardwoods are certainly not the best choice for high-traffic or commercial applications.

There is a measurement, called the Janka Hardness Scale, which rates the hardness of various woods. When thinking of a wood floor, the first step is to imagine how the space will be used. How many high-heeled cocktail parties will be held there? How often will the kids ride their scooters down the hall? Some rooms, like bedrooms, may only ever see fuzzy bunny slippers.

So, with the use in mind, when shopping for a wood floor covering, ask the vendor for the Janka rating on any product up for consideration, and its relation to oak. This will tell you if that wood is suitable for your ballroom or bedroom!